Who do you think you are?

I knew nothing about Gemma Collins before I watched WDYTYA but I was interested to see how very clearly she explained the distinction between her celebrity “ diva” persona (“GC” which provides her with a very comfortable income ) and her real self “ Gemma” who loves her family, her garden and nature.

GC not really on my radar but it would seem she's fairly astute in her business dealings. She recognized early on that she only had a very short life as a celebrity and has made her mark in the plus size clothing market as well as in other areas. She's a firm supporter of animal charities including PETA. Believe it or not she has actually won a debate at the Oxford Union! I don't think she's altogether a poor role model.

Watched it, it was very good, she came across well, sad in parts, worth a watch.

I felt it harsh the posters saying rotten things about GC. She is actually a very nice considerate person, loves her mum to bits. Was so warm to her cousins, she met for the first time and immediately invited them out for a meal the follow weekend. She loves animals. I too was impressed by her not wearing make-up and having her hair in a causal pony tail. Her on screen persona is not the real GC. If you watch the programme you would change your mind about her.

Yoginimeisje

I felt it harsh the posters saying rotten things about GC. She is actually a very nice considerate person, loves her mum to bits. Was so warm to her cousins, she met for the first time and immediately invited them out for a meal the follow weekend. She loves animals. I too was impressed by her not wearing make-up and having her hair in a causal pony tail. Her on screen persona is not the real GC. If you watch the programme you would change your mind about her.

I have seen her on a number of shows and she has always acted like an entitled, spoilt brat. Just because she acts nicely on one show doesn't change her previous behaviours. I suspect she is actually quite a complex, emotional person and her bad behaviour was probably partly due to that but it does make it quite hard to see her in a positive light. Everybody is entitled to their own view of her based on their history of viewing.

Yoginimeisje

I felt it harsh the posters saying rotten things about GC. She is actually a very nice considerate person, loves her mum to bits. Was so warm to her cousins, she met for the first time and immediately invited them out for a meal the follow weekend. She loves animals. I too was impressed by her not wearing make-up and having her hair in a causal pony tail. Her on screen persona is not the real GC. If you watch the programme you would change your mind about her.

Very few people you see on-screen are showing their true selves.

We watched half, but DH wanted to watch something else so I'll watch the rest another time.

Ps I find all the programmes interesting because I've been researching both sides of our family for years. It's amazing what you find out that you never knew, some things your parents refused to talk about too.

Doesn’t she say in the programme that ‘GC’ is a construct and not Gemma Collins? She has definitely said this before. She is bright enough to know that reality stars don’t have long to shine, so have to create a persona, which is what she did. The loud, brash ‘Essex girl’ ‘GC’ is that persona, not the real Gemma Collins.

Yes quite right Doodledog